This year in review post was written by Nikki Knaddison, our Youth Education Coordinator that previously worked as a Seed to Plate instructor. Her post highlights wins from the program and memorable classrooom moments.
As our Seed to Plate classes wrap up for the term, our Youth Education team has been reflecting on our year. Each day after school in 2024, Slow Food Denver Classroom Instructors all around Denver set up their supplies: bright colored cutting boards and knives, fresh fruits and vegetables, and a range of ingredients that vary from ordinary to exotic. Students come in after a long day and upon seeing their instructor and the beautiful ingredients, light up and curiously ask “what are we cooking today?!” In their class, students learn something new and get to work peeling, cutting, grating or measuring. They work together to complete their dish, then serve it up and try it. The reactions vary from “I don’t like this very much” to “this is the best thing I have ever eaten. Can you write down the recipe?”, and there are often spontaneous ratings of the meal, “this gets 10 stars!”, “4 out of 5”, or “1 million out of 10!” Students work together to clean up, sometimes write down their recipe in a small craft journal and say goodbye until the next class and whatever new tastes and experiences it promises.
My highlight of the year was the opportunity to be in many of these different classrooms all around the city, seeing our incredible Slow Food Instructors and students hard at work experimenting, exploring and creating. Students not only gained technical skills and learned how to taste and adjust, but they created moments of joy and food memories.
Some moments in our 2024 classes:
Students gather around Carley’s black box of ingredients, wide-eyed as she asks them what they think they are going to make today based on what they see
One of Kyle’s students tasting grapefruit for the first time and loving it
Raia’s student eating more cucumbers than she could turn into pickles
Laura teaching her kindergarten students how to harvest grapes from the vine in the schoolyard garden and turning those grapes into fresh jam
Meagan’s students tasting 4 different types of apples and combining flavors, including apples plus: lemon (sour), honey (sweet), cinnamon (bitter), sage (bitter), salt (salty), cheddar cheese (umami), and telling us their favorites
Darcie’s students cheerfully pounding graham crackers into crumbs for a deconstructed pumpkin pie
In addition to these magical moments, in 2024 our Youth Ed team met our goal of using 10% local produce, wrote and started using Fall and Winter curriculum to build student skills over the term, expanded our summer programming and partnered with Grow Local Colorado to harvest produce at Civic Center Park for food banks and shelters.
Our year in numbers:
